Chapter Eighteen Alas, He Does Not Belong to Britain (II)

  The First Scouting Group and the Fast Cruiser Squadron fought from the north of Heligoland Bight to the coast of Jutland, with HMS Princess Royal being sunk first. Before dawn, the bugle sounded again in the Skagerrak Strait, and HMAS Australia was defeated and sank into the sand. After breaking through the battle line, the flames began to spread towards the southwest coast of Norway, and no one knew who would fall next.

  At 8:27, the First Scout Fleet and the Fast Carrier Force were both straining northward, the road to the north was filled with the cold, dry air of the North Sea in early spring, choking nitrous fumes and coal smoke, as well as the majestic desolation unique to the sea.

  Poor Tiger was hit again, this time at a spot only two meters above the waterline on her side.

  For any warship in the world, the side belt defense is crucial. However, referring to the Tiger's 3-inch horizontal armor deck, 5-inch watertight bulkhead, 9-inch turret front armor and 10-inch command tower front armor, this series of protection data is dismal, and the protective power of its main armor thickness can be imagined.

  A 350mm armour-piercing shell penetrated the Tiger's 9-inch waterline belt and main armour, with only a one-inch sloping roof of the submerged power compartment in front of it.

  To increase the survivability of battleships, main force ships will start laying a layer from below the waterline with space for survival, which has a vaulted deck with watertight subdivision. When the side armor is penetrated and the hull is flooded, this layer of vaulted deck at both ends is lower than the waterline, and the top end is higher than the waterline, suppressing the amount of flooding to provide buoyancy for the battleship. This layer of vaulted deck usually includes sloping deck and horizontal deck, although the strength of British main force ship's vaulted deck is limited, they are still counted by the British who are good at playing paper games as part of side armor and horizontal armor.

  The sloping armor of the turret was unable to stop the 350mm armor-piercing shell, and it seemed that the shell would penetrate deep into the hull. The Tiger was doomed to suffer heavy damage, but something unexpected happened - it was a dud!

  Tiger escaped for the time being, but all officers and men on this new cruiser with a standard displacement of over 28,340 tons and powerful firepower knew they were in big trouble - because the Germans had fired across the bow!

  Tiger was badly damaged, and the Indomitable at the rear of the battle line also suffered a mishap. One minute before, Deutschland had accurately hit her from 15,400 yards away, this battleship cruiser, which is said to be the cheapest in the world and full of signs of shoddy workmanship everywhere, was penetrated by a 350mm capped armor-piercing shell through the upper armor belt, internal sloping roof armor and magazine anti-explosion bulkhead, and finally exploded.

  At 14,000 meters away, the lookout on the Missouri saw an astonishing sight: The Indefatigable's port side suddenly burst out a cluster of black smoke, iron blocks, powder and orange flames mixed together. A few seconds later, a more violent explosion occurred deep in the hull of the Indefatigable, and the entire battleship jumped up on the noisy sea, revealing large patches of green algae and shellfish attached to the waterline below the port side.

  Hundreds of tons of turret were blown into the sky, thick smoke and flames spread to the horizontal deck, and a few sailors were thrown off the deck by the violently shaking warship. In an instant, the 18,500-ton steel giant was torn apart by the impact of the exploding ammunition depot, its hull cracking open, and thousands of tons of seawater rushed in instantly.

  Few were fortunate enough to witness this scene, and the British did not even discover that the Intrepid was sinking at first. On the German side, except for a few lookouts on the foretop, some idle cooks, and the range-takers, almost all sailors were steadfastly at their posts, so busy that they did not know that the First Scouting Group had won glory once again.

  "General, this is the greatest humiliation for the Royal Navy who claims to be invincible!"

  The commander's intention was more or less guessed by the Chief of Staff, Admiral Singler. After three consecutive encounters, the main gun ammunition of each ship in the First Reconnaissance Fleet had generally dropped to thirty rounds per barrel on this alert line, while the British had a relatively good number of main gun rounds due to their previous division advantage.

  A fierce naval battle, even taking into account the interference of trial shots, angle corrections and smoke screens, completing thirty rounds of cannon fire would not require twenty minutes, after all, the Empire's largest 350mm/45 caliber main gun had a firing rate of three rounds per minute in ideal conditions. Of course, the First Reconnaissance Fleet needed to reserve some self-defense ammunition, so in the final stages of this prolonged battlecruiser duel, the First Reconnaissance Fleet could maintain at most twenty rounds of cannon fire.

  The commander accurately controlled and calculated the delivery time. When encountering a fast fleet, the commander "unreasonably" abandoned the nearly seventy-degree lateral advantage, ordering the fleet to turn left. In fact, due to the smaller exterior angle, the first scouting fleet could maintain its lateral advantage for several minutes, allowing the fleet to fully utilize this time to gain all the benefits. When the British desperately pulled out of the line of battle and were able to fully exploit the observational and aiming advantages with their backs to the sun, the real showdown had already ended, because the ammunition-depleted first scouting fleet could retreat and turn around at leisure using the accumulated exterior angle.

  The general's plan was nearly flawless, but the feedback from the returned message was not as expected. Taking the risk of running out of ammunition to fight a decisive battle and occupying the advantage of the horizontal team, the result was only sinking an old Indefatigable, which made Singler somewhat regretful.

  "Unfortunately, Lady Luck was not on our side!"

  Wang Haitian also had some regrets. After completing the breakthrough of the enemy's line, this arduous naval battle was no longer in his sights. The results of sinking two British battlecruisers and severely damaging a fast battleship were enough to be glorious, enough to let him avoid Emperor William's backlash after the war, and gain more freedom of action. However, Wang Haitian still ordered the fleet to turn north and engage in the final battle with Beatty's fast squadron. He had already set his sights on the layout after this naval battle that could change the situation at sea. Wang Haitian had many ideas, some of which seemed crazy to the conservative Navy Department, and the first obstacle to be eliminated in order to implement these fanciful ideas was the British battlecruiser squadron!

  At 8:29, it was already the seventeenth round of shelling. The word "retreat" had been lingering in his throat for a long time. Just as Wang Haitian waved to summon the navigation officer to give orders, the lookout tower brought exciting news.

  "Commander, the duel between Defflinger and Tiger seems to have reached its conclusion. Tiger is billowing smoke, her hull slightly listing, and her rudder appears to be damaged as well!"

  On a capital ship, the damage control parties, gunners and lookouts were always among the most dangerous jobs, especially the latter. The Derfflinger-class battlecruisers inherited the three-legged foremast of the Seydlitz-class battlecruiser, which was more robust than the tubular foremast fitted to Von der Tann and Moltke-class battlecruisers; the spotting tops were also better protected, but this did not mean that lookouts could move freely on the deck amidst flying splinters and spray.

  At this time, the bold lookout had apparently forgotten the familiar "Tactical Regulations" and was leaning out to observe the damage to the Tigr while yelling into the telephone receiver in his hand.

  "Rudder destroyed, hull tilting?"

  The amount of ammunition was still decreasing, and the crazy German gunners could consume three shells per minute, a number that made Wang Haitie's heart skip a beat. However, the temptation to sink a main battleship with the Tiger emblem was not small.

  "Give De Vrijlinger another minute!"

  Wang Haitie took out her pocket watch to check the time. Everyone in the command tower held their breath, quietly waiting for the glorious moment.

  "Commander, Tiger is actually sinking! Defflinger has scored a cross shot, Tiger's port waterline belt was hit continuously, the tilt angle has exceeded twenty-five degrees!"

  Although British warships did not have the high center of gravity of French warships, a 25-degree tilt was still enough to render all efforts by Tiger's damage control parties useless, and even self-sacrificing counter-flooding could not correct it.

  "The battle is over! I'm eager to see the blooming flowers of Wilhelm Port, and enjoy the sweet kisses of the maidens..."

  The well-known "big shot" Colonel Lauren suddenly rushed out from the corner, huffing and puffing. Fortunately, Lauren's reverie was nipped in the bud.

  "General, we've got trouble..." The telegraph operator burst into the command tower with a worried look.

  The lookout on the crow's nest of the USS Missouri was watching where the British shells were falling, and out of the corner of his eye he saw the poor old Intrepid, when a loud explosion occurred off to one side.

  Having experienced the brutal Dogger Bank Sea Battle, the lookout was familiar with the sound. His body was numb, dizzy and hesitant to turn around, hesitant to confirm his speculation. But facts are facts, they were professional soldiers, this *** is war!

  "Commander's tower, Deutschland has been hit!"

  The shell hit the Deutschland's aft, grazing the Dora turret and striking the deck below the elevated gun house. The first layer of horizontal armor at the stern, which had been penetrated by the 12-inch shell, finally gave way, allowing the armour-piercing shell to pass through until it was stopped just short of the 40 mm magazine armour.

  An explosion, thick smoke and a fire that could not be extinguished attracted everyone's attention. At this time, an even greater disaster struck, another 12-pdr shell from the secondary battery followed closely, grazing the side of Deutschland and plunging into the sea.

  A shell hit the water, or a direct hit on the side of the hull just appeared like this. A 12-inch armor-piercing shell pierced the relatively weak armor below the waterline at the bow of the Deutschland, blasting a hole three meters in diameter, and then exploding deep within the ship's hull.

  "Damn it!" Captain Magnus von Levetzow's fist slammed against the armored wall of the command tower, muttering in despair: "Germany is going to lose another battleship?"

  The painful memories of Dogger Bank surged back into his mind, the heartache and helplessness still lingering, as the hull of the HMS Tiger shuddered violently.

  "Cut the chatter!" No need for a lookout's report, Lieutenant Colonel Leventritt also knew that Mauke had been hit. The colonel could hardly hold onto the phone, forcing himself to remain calm: "Tell me where you've been hit and what damage you've sustained!"

  "A British armor-piercing shell has hit the area between the two main turrets on our port side, just below the No. 2 funnel!" Despite poor visibility aft, the seasoned lookout accurately reported the location of the damage.

  "God, there's an engine room under the funnel!"

  "Hit on the Mauke, hit location is the second funnel! 8:27, Deutschland hit, one of which was an underwater shell!" The officer's face was hideous as he read out the two telegrams, which were brief but enough to make everyone panic.

  The news is terrible. A big tree attracts wind, and the chimney was damaged in a sea battle, which is not a big deal, but what's frightening is that the engine room is just below the chimney! Can the 40mm horizontal armor and 30mm dome-shaped armor above the Mutsu engine room withstand the pressure? No one has any confidence.

  The situation of the German battleship is more critical than that of the USS Missouri. Even if the German warship has abnormal defensive power, what can be done about the underwater projectiles being unreasonable and unstoppable?

  Although sinking the Indefatigable and Tiger in the final moments brought the First Scouting Group's total to a dazzling four battlecruisers, this did not mean that Admiral Scheer could accept even one of his ships being sunk. There were no politicians' cries, no time travelers' utilitarianism, only because he, as the fleet commander, was responsible for the young men under him, and only because he had a duty to bring them home!

  The order to turn back was given by Wang Haitie, and a gloom spread across his face: "Go home!"